Story+1985-03-28+Sydney,+Australia

´´(?)...I kind of grew up when I was in my teens in this, uh....kind of run-down beach town ....and uh....I guess about 70 miles south, they....they brought, they brought in legalised gambling....and uh....now they got big gold casinos a block in from the slums....and they got the....the local mafia down there fighting for control...this is ´Atlantic City´....”
 * 28.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´Atlantic City´**

´´When I was a kid, I remember, uh....out, out back of my house, there was these woods.... and I had a friend that lived on the other side of the woods....and in the day I used to come home from school....was this real little path you could follow....would lead over to his house ....and I´d go over and we´d, you know ,we´d play around for a while and then....like around 6 o´clock I had to get back home....I can remember I used to....time it exactly because I was terrified of, like, getting caught in the woods at night when it got too dark....and uh....I remember I´d wait, I´d wait as long as I could and then I´d start running....and I guess this is a story, this is a story about, uh....a man who dreams he was a child when he was a child.... and he tries to get back home again....”
 * 28.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´My Father´s House´**

´´My dad used to sit, sit in the kitchen at night all the time....he used to, he got home from work, he´d go straight to the kitchen....and he´d sit there till we´d all gone to bed.....and my mother, she´d make him his dinner...and he never used to let us turn any of the lights downstairs on, he used to like to sit in the dark and so, you know, at night the only lights on in my house would be like....my mother´d be in the livingroom with just the television on.... in, like, a blue bathrobe and the pink curlers that the women used to always wear....and she´d sit there....I can remember, until she fell asleep....(?) I´d always get in and she´d be like (makes a snoring sound) sleeping away (chuckles)....but, uh.....some nights it´d be....my dad used to pull a trick on us, used to lock up the frontdoor so that we used to have to come in ´round the side so he could tell what time we were coming in....and he´d be sitting in there drinking and if you waited too late....you were better off coming in in the morning, I think ....he was real sly, he liked, he liked to play games with you, you know, like, I´d stand out in the driveway, I could see like just the light of his cigarette....and like I´d slick my hair back real tight ´cause he used to hate it when it was real long.....I´d put my collar up real high....I´d walk in, I´d go ´Hey, Dad!´....walked through the kitchen....he wouldn´t say nothing.... walked through the diningroom.....nothing.....walk in to the livingroom, nothing....just as I hit that bottom step....´Bruuce ?´....man, I almost made it....and then, and then he´d bring you back into the kitchen and he´d sit you down and like his first question would always be.... ´Well, what do you think you´re doing with yourself ?´ (chuckles)....but anyway, some nights....I had this sleeping bag I used to stash out on the edge of the woods, kept it under these rocks....and if it got too late, I didn´t go home, I´d sleep out there or sleep in.....some of my friend´s cars....or sometimes used to sleep on top of the beach houses down at the beach ....but I guess....sometimes when I go home now, I always like drive past that place where I used to sleep out all the time because there was nights when it felt....more like it was....it was mine, my place than my own house did....so this is a song about, uh... everybody needs some place to go on them nights when they can´t go home....”
 * 28.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´The River´**

´´Now....now tonight...I´m in a confessional mood....you see, before I wanted to be a guitar player, the only other thing I ever wanted to be....was....a lover, no, no....I wanted to be a baseball player...and like I was in Little League when I was six years old....then I was in Babe Ruth League, they called it, when I was like ten....and I was in baseball till I was about 15...and when I became 15, I got interested in....among other things....but like it wasn´t too bad because they used to have the baseball games on the weekdays and we used to play the rock´n´roll shows on the weekends...but one time they had a rain-out game and they scheduled it for Saturday morning at 8 o´clock and I´d been out all night before playing in this little club....and like, I didn´t wanna go....so the guys came to my door, they knocked on the door, I said ´Mom, go downstairs and like tell ´em, tell ´em I´m too sick, like I can´t go, I can´t make the game this morning´...so like my mother, you know, she goes down and starts lying to ´em and she goes ´Oh, boys, boys, Bruce is too sick today and he can´t make the game this morning´....and so then they go away, right....but about twenty minutes later they come back and I hear ´em down at the door talking to my mother: ´Oh, Mrs.Springsteen, we only got eight guys and if Bruce doesn´t come, we´re gonna forfit the game, it´s gonna screw up the whole season, he´s gotta come, please tell him he´s gotta come´....so my mother sends ´em upstairs...well, now like, now I gotta like lay in bed and like make believe like I´m really sick, you know....so I´m laying there in my bed, I always sleep with my guitar....my girlfriends don´t like it but they get used to it after a while....sometimes the guitar sleeps on the outside....but I´m laying there and like, you know, trying to cough and make believe I´m sick....but they start begging me to come and begging me to go and I´m one of those guys that when somebody starts begging me like I always do it, you know....so I put my uniform on and I go down to the field and I get out in the right field and it´s not a bad day, it´s like early but I´m kind of standing out there just praying that nothing comes to me....and, you know, six innings go by....score´s tie....I start daydreaming out there....I imagine there´s a girl climbing over the fence....she´s walking out into right field....she says it´s too hot to wear this uniform....and then all of a sudden - phhheww....I got it, I got it, I got it, got it....I dropped the ball...a winning run, they scored....we lost the whole season, I suffered defeat and humiliation in front of my peers....and that was the day I decided to give up sports and dedicate my life to rock´n´roll music....and I haven´t regretted it since....anyway, in the end ....time marches on, all things must pass and it ain´t nothing but glory days....”
 * 28.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´Glory Days´**

´´Thanks....this is a song....I guess everybody kind of ends up with a....kind of a love-hate-relationship...with the place that they were raised and it either, it´s too small or too big or there´s not enough going on or there´s too much going on....I grew up in a little town..... where, uh, it was pretty small-minded, pretty narrowminded, particularly in the late 60´s.... and uh, I remember thinking that I couldn´t wait to get out of there....you know, when I did, I figured, well, I´d never, I´d never miss it....and when I got the chance to leave....I didn´t miss it for a real long time....then as I got older....I´d started to come home off the road and I´d get in my car and I´d drive, at night I´d drive back through town....and uh, 3 or 4 in the morning when there was like nobody out on the streets....and uh, I started going back more often trying to find out what it, what it was like there, what my friends´ lives were like, what had happened to them....and uh, I realised that no matter where you go and what you do, where you come from ...it always stays with you in your blood.....and.....I guess, I guess when I was a kid, one of the things that I was afraid of was belonging to anything, you know, didn´t wanna belong to anything or anybody....´cause when you admit that you belong some place that means you´ve got some responsobility to that place....and uh, I guess that´s what this song is about really, this next song, it´s about responsobility to the place that you live, your country or your state or your town or the world you live in....and how what happens.....here happens in all our names and we all bear the shame and the glory of it all....so this is wishing you best, to you and to your hometown....”
 * 28.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´My Hometown´**

´´This next song, this is uh....kind of about....that thin line....between life and death all the time....sometimes you don´t appreciate what you´ve got....”
 * 28.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´Wreck on the Highway´**

´´I remember my old man always telling me....that I would....was never gonna amount to anything....and he´d sit there in the kitchen all night thinking about....everything that he didn´t have....that´s all he ever talked about sometimes....till you get down to standing on the corner watch the girls in the cars go by....and thinking someday....some way....”
 * 28.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´I´m on Fire´**

´´Well, now this is a song....about temptation....everybody knows what that is....everybody´s always being tempted...by something that they shouldn´t have....it´s a song about conflict between worldly things and spiritual health....between desires of the flesh, sexual desire .... and spiritual ecstasy ....now, where did this conflict begin ?....well, it began in the beginning in a place called the Garden of Eden....well, now, the Garden of Eden was originally believed to have been located in Mesopotamia....but the latest theological studies have found out that its actual location, and you´re gonna be reading about this in the newspaper any day, was ten miles south of Jersey City, off the New Jersey Turnpike....that´s why they call it the Garden State back home....but now understand, in the Garden of Eden there was none of the accoutrements of modern living....ou could go home at night and crawl up in a nice soft little bed and turn on the TV....you couldn´t go out on to the highway and buy a cheeseburger if you wanted one....you couldn´t get, they didn´t have none of those, those Vegemite sandwiches....no, Sir, no !....in the Garden of Eden there was no sin....there was no sex.... man lived in a state of innocence.....now, when it comes to no sex, I prefer the state of guilt that I live in....but now, just before the tour I decided to make a spiritual journey to the location of the Garden of Eden to find out the answer to some of these mysteries....why my flesh pulls me in one way and my soul pulls me another all the time so I hitchhiked on out there and I found out that that spot was now occupied by Happy Dan´s Celebrity Used Car Lot....I walked in, the man looked at me, he said ´Son, you need a yellow convertible, a four-door DeVille with a Continental spare, wide chrome wheels, air-conditioning, automatic heat, fold-out bed in your backseat, eight-track tapedeck , TV and a phone so you can speak to your baby when you’re driving all alone’...I said ‘I’ll take two’...then I said ´But Dan, that´s not the reason why I came, see, the real reason I´m here is I wanna know the answer to this conflict that´s pulling me apart all the time....and he said ´Well, son, that´s easy because on these ten beautiful commercially-zoned acres was the sweetest little paradise that man had ever seen, in the Garden of Eden there were many wonderous things : there was a Tree of Life, there was a Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, there was a man, Adam, there was a woman, Eve, and she looked so fine....and when Adam kissed her, it was the first time that a man had ever kissed a woman....and she had legs that were long and soft to the touch....and when Adam touched her, it was the first time that a man had ever touched a woman.....and then they walked out into the green fields....and then they lay down....and when Adam....let´s just say it was the first time....but there was something else in the Garden of Eden on that day, old Satan came slithering up on his belly and somehow he turned their love into a betrayal and sent them running down into the darkness below....but that´s alright because right here tonight on this backlot for 99.95 and no money down, don´t worry if you´ve got bad credit, it´s good here, I´ve got their getaway car....and if you´ve got the nerve to ride.... I´ve got the keys....to the first....pink....Cadillac....”
 * 28.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´ **

´´I remember the night we promised....that, that if I got out first, I´d help you and if you did, you´d help me....I remember we swore on it....and we said that it´d last forever...and forever and forever....no matter what happened....nothing could ever tear us apart.....how nothing could ever....ever tear us apart....”
 * 28.03.85 Sydney, Australia, middle of ´Backstreets´**

´´Thanks....I´d just like to take a second here just to thank everybody for coming down to all the shows that we´ve done here in Sydney....you know, uh, this, uh....this is our first time down here and uh....whenever you go someplace new, you know, it´s kind of nervous and I wanna thank youse for making us feel real at home down here....every place, every place we went, people were really, really, really very nice to us and uh....beautiful city....so....I´d like to thank youse for the support that you´ve shown our band over the past ten years when we haven´t....we were thinking about it (?)....”
 * 28.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ´Can´t Help Falling in Love with You´**

´´Here comes that old dude....all dressed up in a....red suit....hitching up ´em V8 reindeers.... getting in that Cadillac sleigh....he´s flying....over New Jersey....heading south....until he gets waaaayyy Down Under...now, has everybody been good ? ....nobody did no lying ?....nobody did no cheating on their boyfriend or their girlfriend ?...that´s good, alright....”
 * 28.03.85 Sydney, Australia, middle of ´Santa Claus Is Coming to Town´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//